“Pimemento” sees the return of Pimento, Jake keeping secrets, and a HR seminar at the Nine-Nine.

This recap of Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7, Episode 3, “Pimemento”, contains spoilers. You can check out our thoughts on the previous episode by clicking these words.

Jason Mantzoukas returns as Adrian Pimento in “Pimemento”, an episode so-called for its allusions to Christopher Nolan’s Memento, about a man suffering short-term memory loss. There are lots of gags about and references to that movie throughout, and many more to Finding Dory, which both Pimento and Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) prefer as a comparison for his predicament, much to Jake’s (Andy Samberg) distress.

The frantic plot involving Pimento and his constantly resetting memory is enjoyably ridiculous and allows for plenty of riffing on the tired amnesiac trope. Mantzoukas is the perfect guest-star for the nutcase overacting required here and it’s nice to see Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7, Episode 3 proving that the show still has occasional use of him. But “Pimemento” also smartly ties up the proceedings with the ongoing thread of Jake and Amy (Melissa Fumero) trying for a baby and Jake being apparently unable to keep Harry Potter references out of their sex life. Late on, Jake opens up to Pimento because he naturally assumes that he’s going to forget what Jake tells him anyway, but when he doesn’t Jake is forced to reckon with keeping secrets from his friend while Boyle has to deal with the reality that he’s… well, Boyle.

A standout B-plot keeps the rest of the cast occupied in a workplace-conflict seminar too boring even for Amy. This is a pretty standard idea for a workplace sitcom, but it works especially well here because it’s mundane enough to offset the wackiness of the who’s-trying-to-kill-Pimento A-side and also allows the characters to really lean into their respective dynamics and personal quirks. Amy tries to swot up on the subject so that they can speed through the seminar, which backfires when they’re told by HR’s funny-guy (Paul Welsh) that the State mandates a minimum six hours for these things – leaving plenty of leftover time for resolving specific conflicts within the Nine-Nine.

While in its totality this all might not work as well as the more focused and centralized opening episodes of this season, the gag density is very high in “Pimento”, and the show knows to lean into its fantastic characters to elevate any idea. Plenty is learned in Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 7, Episode 3, including the name of Scully’s (Joel McKinnon Miller) ex-wife and dog, but the most important lesson is that even seminars can be fun with the right people.

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